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tOSU Recruiting Discussion

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Did a little searching after the rest of the sky fell over the weekend. Only using Coach Meyer's full recruiting classes.

Today is 4/21, if we were in these following years, we would have these amount of commits (date of first commitment in ().):

2006 - 1 - (4/7)
2007 - 0 - (4/22) [Aaron Hernandez was the first commit. Class ended with 10 5 stars, per scout.]
2008 - 1 (4/19)
2009 - 2* - (2/5 & 3/4)
2010 - 9 - every single one, except Joe Haden, were in state recruits at this time.

* - Dee Finley committed to UF in 2008, didn't qualify and committed again after prep school.

This isn't uncharted territory for the staff. Some need to relax.
 
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There is no doubt PSU has landed some kids with legitimate OSU offers (Josh Barajas for example...have to think his offer was commit-able considering he was offered in person). PSU has also landed some kids that OSU had extended a verbal offer to but were not pursuing nearly as hard as others at their position (Juwan Johnson for example...OSU feels very good about where they are with Van Jefferson who is at the top of the wishlist according to at least one insider). What most PSU (and OSU fans for that matter) don't understand is that despite the fact a kid may have reported an OSU offer, it doesn't mean OSU was making a big push for that kid. For example, how many times has the OSU staff been in to see Christian Wilkins this spring compared to Adam McLean prior to his commitment to PSU? That tells me a lot about where they have Wilkins on the board compared to McLean. How much contact has the staff had with Damien Harris as compared to how much contact did the staff have with Andre Robinson prior to his commitment to PSU? The only player who there seems to hvae been mixed reports on was Steven Gonzalez. OSU seemed to be pursuing him pretty hard but as soon as he committed to PSU, the OSU message boards were flush with "he needed to camp to make his offer commit-able" type posts. I personally think Gonzalez was a take but that is up for debate and only Coach Meyer and his staff really know the answer.

Is PSU off to a strong start? Absolutely. We've seen this a million times before. New staff brings new energy and almost always equals a bump in recruiting, depending on the timing. Franklin did an admirable job salvaging the 2014 class and is now doing great work on the recruiting trail for 2015 and beyond. He will be a force to be reckoned with and OSU will certainly be battling PSU for Mid-Atlantic and East coast kids in the years to come. But does the fact that they have twelve commits and OSU has two concern me right now? Not in the least. Outside of Barajas, PSU's entire class so far is made up of kids from PA, NJ, VA, CT and NJ...exactly what you'd expect. Winning the April recruiting title means nothing. Michigan shot out of the gates in Hoke's first two seasons. Now look what's going on...they have five kids committed and have only had one new verbal in 2014.

OSU is targeting a lot of national kids. Those kids tend to decide later on in the process. That's the price you pay for targeting guys like Gibson, Harris, Richmond, Sweat, Baker, Hilliard, etc. But am I worried about where OSU stands right now? Of course not. The only positions that seem to have had a bit of an unnaturally early run on commitments is defensive back. You would expect to see kids committing early at positions where teams are typically taking one player a year, like QB. Usually the dominoes fall a little earlier there. But according to Rivals, of the top 10 corners in the country, six have already pledged to a school. Same with safeties. That is the same number of pro-style QBs that have given a verbal somewhere at this early stage.

I expect there to be a an upswing in activity this summer...OSU is in on a number of kids who plan on deciding before their senior year. Off the top of my head you have guys like Brandon Wimbush, Van Jefferson, Chris Clark, Sterling Jenkins, James Daniels, Gabe Megginson, Elijah Taylor, Dre' Mont Jones, Joshua McMillon and Sh'Mar Kilby-Lane. The dominoes will really start to fall this summer...I think OSU will be to double digits by the end of the summer.

@RB07OSU I really like your list. One addition would be Will Sunderland. He is one of the few safeties out there I definitely like better than Ben Edwards.
 
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As @wadc45 said, new staff = spike in recruiting, tale as old as time...Franklin will need to keep that momentum going come fall though. And either way, I am not worried...good for the Big Ten to recruit well all around and we will get our guys. And I considered another DB and I did not know how much Sunderland and/or Lane are interested in us...I am sure we will take at least 3 DBs but the picture needs to clear up after the string of early commits. I absolutely agree that we will see a lot of commits in the summer with many of those guys deciding before their senior seasons. If we are lagging come August, then maybe there is some cause for concern...

And @Buckeye86, Allen is definitely a name to watch...great prospect that we seem to be pursuing hard, I just don't know where we stand with him. Another guy that LJ Sr. should have some major pull with. And I would love to add Boykin, not sure where we stand with him.
 
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Having Penn St atop recruiting lists is a VERY good thing for the B10. We need a strong PSU to help uphold the sanctity of 'good' football teams in the B10. With the NCAA over-exuberance with it's sanctions, Penn St has been running around like an 80 yr old man w/o teeth trying to eat a steak. Cannot be done. Plus they have the added benefit of being able to 'guarantee' that a kid will be the two-deep immediately because of the lack of scholarship recruits.

Lack of competition and abundance of available spots will help PSU. Will they be higher than tOSU at the end of the recruiting year? Probably not, but who cares, really. tOSU will probably lose some more recruits to PSU this year, but Urb seems to have an uncanny knack of replacing them 'lost ones' with better ones. I'm more worried about losing recruits to the SEC teams, than PSU. Let's wish them well, and if Urb even gets one half of who visits, then tOSU will be sitting pretty for at least the next four years, and we'll forget this conversation even happened. Thanks guys for talking most of us off the ledge (once again), and for us 'glass half empty' types. Go Buckeyes!
 
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The chances of EGW being in this class are getting slimmer by the minute.
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RB, great list. It'll be fun to watch how this class plays out. I like that you had some reaches(at least they seem that way now), but I somehow see Nick Conner in this class. Could be wishful thinking but I see him earning an offer this summer and committing soon after.
 
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pnuts34 said:
RB, great list. It'll be fun to watch how this class plays out. I like that you had some reaches(at least they seem that way now), but I somehow see Nick Conner in this class. Could be wishful thinking but I see him earning an offer this summer and committing soon after.
Click to expand...

I really hope so too...I think if he camps, he gets it. Staff just wants to see how bad he wants it and frankly, he is the type of guy that turns head in a camp setting (in addition to a killer film). Plus Hilliard will have a spot if he wants it but I am not getting a good vibe on that one...still plenty of time, just not crazy about our odds where they stand. I would be ecstatic with a LB class of Hilliard, Baker, Conner, and Kilby-Lane if we can make it happen. Plus I think DeBerry could easily be in this class at LB. Moral of the story, it looks like we should get another killer LB class.
 
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